Trick-or-Treat
by The Little Monster 1024
Summary: Sharon and Rusty pass out candy to the children in Sharon's building.


**Trick-or-Treat**

 **AN** : I'm not really positive of the timeline. In my head, Sharon took Rusty in in the beginning of the year. So, their first Halloween together takes place after he's already been with her for ten months or so. Which, would put this in the middle of season two, correct? Idk. I apologize for any inaccuracies. Here's a little Halloween fluff that I thought of while taking my little sister trick-or-treating last night.

* * *

She had always loved Halloween. She loved all the holidays, really. But, next to Christmas, Halloween was always her favorite.

She'd loved it as a child. She, of all of her siblings, took her costume seriously. She planned it ahead of time, often months in advance. She carefully planned them out; making sure every piece was just perfect. One year she had been a cowgirl; she'd saved up her allowance to buy a pair of cowgirl boots.

Another year she had been, ironically enough, a police officer. Her mother had pictures of her wearing the plastic, star-shaped badge all the way up to Thanksgiving.

She had been one of those kids that completely took over the persona of her character.

Her kids had been the same way. She had absolutely loved taking her children trick-or-treating. She had all the pictures put up, but she had one from each Halloween.

Emily had been a ballerina more than once for Halloween; she had danced and skipped down the sidewalk, only slowing down when Sharon had to scold her about running off _again_. She'd been a cat one year, crawling around the house on all fours for days before Halloween, saying she needed to "get into character". Her little girl- the performer.

Ricky was the complete opposite. Where Emily stuck with traditional, simple costumes, Ricky's had to be extravagant. They never really made sense either. One year he'd been a cowboy Darth Vader. He'd pinned a sheriff's badge to his black cape and begged her to try to find a way to secure his cowboy hat over the Vader helmet. As he got older, he liked the scary costumes, always wanting creepy masks and fake blood.

Oh, but then they grew up. Emily picked out the cliché teenaged girl costumes (She still thought her mother wasn't aware of the Playboy bunny costume she'd worn her senior year of high school) and went off to parties. Ricky cut holes in his shirts and covered himself in fake blood before running off to trick-or-treat with his friends, leaving her at home. She didn't let them see how much it had broken her heart.

She'd started handing out candy to the neighborhood children after that. She sat on her front steps with a blanket over her legs and a bowl beside her, smiling at every princess and superhero that walked up. She enjoyed it, but she missed her kids. She missed their excited laughter, missed them slipping pieces of candy when they didn't think she was looking.

Sharon sighed to herself, smiling sadly as she poured the candy she'd bought from the store into her large Halloween bowl, covered in ghosts and pumpkins.

She looked up when she heard Rusty's footsteps coming toward her. She offered him a smile.

He looked at the bowl in front of her. "What's that for?" He asked. He'd been staying with her for a while now, but he hadn't been with her last Halloween.

"The trick-or-treaters." She smiled.

"People trick-or-treat around here?"

Sharon nodded. "People usually sit outside their doors and the children go from door to door on each floor."

Rusty nodded a little. "That's kind of weird. Trick-or-treating inside."

Sharon shrugged, plucking a piece of chocolate from the bowl and handing it to him. "A lot of people do it."

Rusty took the candy from her. "Thanks."

"Want to help me pass out the candy?" She asked him.

* * *

Later, Rusty carried out two chairs for them to sit on. He brought the bowl of candy and sat it next to Sharon's chair. He checked his phone, only five minutes until trick-or-treating started. He glanced down the hallway and Sharon was still in her room.

"Sharon," He yelled. "There's like, five minutes until these kids will be here."

"I'm coming, Rusty." He heard her say, pulling her bedroom door shut as she stepped into the hallway.

When she turned to face him, he had to fight back the laughter that was bubbling up inside of him. Gone was the police captain, he was faced with Sharon Raydor in her purest form. She wore jeans and an orange sweater. But, what caught his attention wasn't the festive colors, it was the large the Minnie Mouse ears sitting on top of her head, complete with the red, polka-dot bow between both mouse ears.

"Oh, hush." She told him, hitting his shoulder gently as he walked past him toward the front door.

He chucked a little and shook his head, following her out the door.

* * *

Rusty couldn't help but smile at the sight of Sharon with a bunch of little kids. She was smiley and louder than usual, gushing- yes _, gushing_ , over their costumes.

She held up lines, asking each child about their costumes and then praising them whenever they said "thank you".

"You are very welcome!" She'd say as she dropped another piece of candy into their bags.

He sat pretty quietly next to her, handing out candy to the older kids that weren't really up to talking about their costumes, you know, the ones that really were only in it for the candy.

He didn't blame them. When he'd gone trick-or-treating those few times his mother had taken him, he didn't want to hang around and talk, he wanted to hit up every house he could find for candy.

Those little kids, though, they loved Sharon. They loved yelling and laughing and rambling on and on about their costumes. A lot of the kids called her by name, yelling out "Ms. Raydor!" when they saw her, probably having lived in the building for a while.

It was different, seeing her like that. It wasn't that she wasn't that nice or happy with him, but she was never that…animated. It really gave him a sense of how she probably was with her kids when they were younger. He could picture it- a young Sharon Raydor taking care of two young, loud, hyper children. It actually made him smile a little.

* * *

They sat out there for the full two hours that trick-or-treating lasted, waiting until the absolute last minute to begin gathering their chairs; Sharon wanted to make sure they didn't miss any of the kids.

As they stood to gather their chairs, Rusty stopped her. "Sharon, wait," he said, pulling his phone from his pocket. "Let's take a picture."

She gave him a confused look. "A picture?"

"Yeah, to like, remember this, you know?"

She smiled a little. "Okay."

Rusty opened his camera app, changing it to front camera before turning it toward him, stepping closer to Sharon. He watched her for a moment; she was still so hesitant to touch him, always respectful of his need for space.

"Lean in." He said. "You've never taken a selfie before?"

She rolled her eyes a little at him before she gently placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned closer to him, smiling into the camera. He smiled too, clicking the button. He pulled up his gallery, making sure the picture was okay before showing it to Sharon.

She smiled. "Send that to me." She told him. She'd have to print it off, she thought. She'd add it to her collection of Halloween photos.

Rusty nodded and sent it to her as she carried her chair inside. When she was out of sight, he smiled to himself and hit the forward button.

Provenza would get a kick out of the Minnie Mouse ears.

* * *

 **Happy belated Halloween, everyone! And an even happier Major Crimes Monday! (:**


End file.
